Conventional headphones include one or two speaker assemblies, each having an audio driver that produces audible sound waves using a magnet, coil, and diaphragm. Each speaker assembly may be mounted in an ear-cup housing, and a cushion including foam or another soft material is provided on the side of the ear-cup housing that will abut against the ear and/or head of a person wearing the headphone. The driver may be installed within the ear-cup housing. An electrical cable carrying insulated, electrically conductive wires may extend into the ear-cup housing. The end of the cable external to the ear-cup housing may include an audio jack connector for connection to a media player. As used herein, the term “media player” means and includes any device or system capable of producing an audio signal and wired or wirelessly connectable to a speaker to convert the audio signal to audible sound. For example and without limitation, media players include portable digital music players, portable compact disc players, portable cassette players, mobile phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), radios (e.g., AM, FM, HD, and satellite radios), televisions, eBook readers, portable gaming systems, portable DVD players, laptop computers, tablet computers, desktop computers, stereo systems, and other devices or systems that may be created hereafter. The audio jack connector of the electrical cable may comprise, for example, a tip-sleeve (TS) connector, a tip-ring-sleeve (TRS) connector, a tip-ring-ring-sleeve (TRRS) connector, etc. The wires of the cable at the opposite end of the cable from the audio jack connector may be soldered or otherwise attached to the terminals of the audio driver, such that an electrical sound signal may be transmitted through the cable from the media player to the audio driver during operation and use of the headphone.
During use, audio cables containing the wires and extending from the ear-cup housing are often caught on objects and pulled on, which can result in stresses or strains being transferred to the permanent solder couplings of the wires to the terminal of the audio driver. Continued stresses and strains on the permanent solder couplings can break the couplings and result in a loss of functionality of the headphones.